Tag: <span>pork</span>

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 8

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Another meal by the husband, and the last one for a few weeks, unfortunately, as he’s back out to sea.  This one is pretty basic, but I just cannot get enough of those grilled vegetables.  We have a pork tenderloin and then carrots, potatoes, snap peas, and zucchini all tossed into the grill.  The vegetables were cooked toether in the grill wok with some salt, pepper, and olive oil, and the tenderloin was covered in a seasoning blend that isn’t local (Maple Jalapeno seasoning from Cabela’s), but is OH SO VERY GOOD.  Hopefully our little garden will be producing some vegetables soon.  The zucchini plants both have wee little baby zucchini on them, there’s a teeny watermelon, and loads of marble-sized tomatoes.

Pork and Vegetables:
Pork Tenderloin – Countrytime Farm
Zucchini – Jack’s Farm
Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Snap Peas – Charlestown Farm
Carrots – Charlestown Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Non Local – Olive oil, Salt, Pepper, Maple Jalapeno Seasoning

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 19

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Here’s where I admit that we were away for two weeks and I’m not going to catch up and make up those two lost weeks.  I love doing this project, but it was starting to feel like a bit of a chore, and that’s the last thing I want to happen.  So, since we weren’t even in the country, I’m going to call those two weeks lost, and just go from there!  It’s finally getting to be fall and all of my favorite vegetables are out – all the squash and pumpkin I could possibly ever have!  This meal was a crock pot meal and consisted of a pork shoulder purchased at the Anselma Farmer’s market from a vendor whose name escapes me now, Onions, homebrew beer for the liquid in the crock pot, and pumpkin layered on top.  It came out LOVELY and was just the perfect meal for a rainy day.

Pork and Pumpkin:
Pork  – Anselma farmer’s market
Onion – Smith’s Produce
Pumpkin – Smith’s Produce
Non local – Beer, salt, pepper

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 14

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I was having trouble coming up with ideas this week and was feeling pretty uninspired. I had pork in the freezer, but didn’t know where else to go from there. So I googled and found Pork Afritada.  Not bad!  I had all the ingredients on hand except for the carrot, so I went for it.  Really easy to prepare and it’s sort of like a stew with a tomato base.  I did use water instead of broth and sliced tomatoes instead of sauce, but we’ve got plenty of tomatoes, so that was no problem.  Served the whole thing over bread to soak up the liquid and it was delicious (and deliciously simple)!

Pork Afritada:
Pork Cutlets – Countrytime Farm
Potato – North Star Orchard
Tomatoes – My Garden
Pepper – My Garden
Onion – North Star Orchard
Garlic – Charlestown Farm
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Bay leaves, olive oil

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 6

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My, my, how time is flying already.  It’s over a month of One Local Summer meals.  For those of you late to the party, the One Local Summer challenge involves spending the summer (or at least here, our summer farmers market season) cooking one meal a week using only local ingredients with a few allowable exceptions (salt, olive oil, seasonings, etc).  This is my third year of doing the One Local Summer challenge, and I’ve learned so much about my own cooking skills (or lack thereof sometimes), different foods, and new vegetables.  The benefits are many, probably too many to list here, but for me, the big deal is that we can get soo much food locally, without hauling food across the country or even halfway around the world.  I’d love to hear your take on eating locally and what’s important to you, and if you’re interested in participating too!

This week is an amazing Asian Pork Cutlet meal complete with Bok Choy and a little veggie side of spinach, mushrooms, and garlic scapes.  I was SO excited to see garlic scapes this past weekend at our Phoenixville Farmers Market, that I couldn’t help but add them to the plate.  The real big non local item this week was teriyaki sauce, but it was only used in the marinade, so I’m calling that a spice/seasoning and giving it a pass.  The scapes and mushrooms were sauteed with a little butter, and then the heat was turned off, spinach added overtop, and then covered to allow the spinach to wilt.  Meanwhile, just as the pork was nearing perfection on the grill, I dabbed the bok choy with a little olive oil and threw that on the grill as well.  Everything came out so perfectly (or am I just that hungry?), I believe we have a HUGE win for today.  No real recipe with this one, just your basic grilled pork and vegetables.

Asian Pork Cutlet w/ Vegetables:
Bok Choy – North Star Orchards
Garlic Scapes – North Star Orchards
Spinach – Maysie’s Farm
Portabella Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Pork Cutlets – Countrytime Farm
Non Local – Olive Oil, Butter, Soy sauce

One Local Summer – Week 13

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Week 13?! At this rate, I’m almost sure I could do this all year. The folks at Hoagland Farm really inspired this week and egged me on into trying this recipe. They had cabbage and pork roast, and I ended up coming home with both ingredients and intentions on this being an easy crock pot recipe. It was just that, and I never could’ve imagined the delightful flavors that came about as a result of combining the two. I’m SO glad we have leftovers on this one! We sort of followed a recipe here, making a few changes to make it more local.

Pork Roast with Cabbage:
Green Cabbage – Hoagland Farm
Pork Roast – Hoagland Farm
Onion – North Star Orchard
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Mount Hope. Gewurztraminer.
Non-local – Vinegar, spices

One little bonus localish item that didn’t make it into the dinner photo – cupcakes!  These were so good, and I’m still blown away by how amazing these cupcakes are. I picked up a 6 pack of cupcakes from Iced by Betsy this past week and WOW WOW WOW. If you go to the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market and haven’t yet given in to temptation, you really ought to. Trust me.
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OLS: Week 11

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And another week down, bringing us to week eleven of the One Local Summer challenge. This week we decided to attack the pulled pork sandwich. I wasn’t able to find locally baked rolls that would work for sandwiches, so we found Vermont Bread Company rolls at Kimberton Whole Foods that worked out well, even if they’re not really that local. It’s probably the biggest non-local item I’ve used, but I really, honestly tried to find local rolls that would work and just couldn’t find any. Oh well! We did go the extra mile with the barbeque sauce and  made that from scratch. The dinner was delicious and while the pork butt took all day to cook in the smoker and then crock pot, it was WELL worth it. Non-local ingredients used (other than the rolls) were in the barbeque sauce: pepper, salt, cider vinegar.   The rest of the ingredient run down follows.

Corn: Kimberton Whole Foods (locally grown)
Peaches: North Star Orchards
Feta Cheese: Apple Tree Goat Dairy
Pork Butt: Countrytime Farm
Maple Sugar: Miller’s Maple
Tomatoes: Jack’s Farm
Garlic: Jack’s Farm
Onion: North Star Orchards